Rockman X  Episode 1: The Cataclysm Element
by Kharaxel
Summary: The world Irregular Hunters changed. They have been bought.  Meanwhile Zero is plagued by nightmares.
1. Prologue: Dreams and Nightmares

Everything burns, falls down to the ground. Everything is burning! Death came and took everything away from me.

I'm running, running away. I don't know where, but I just want to escape.

Escape from him, this monster... the monster I...

I can smell the smoke, I know that since he killed them, now he's going after me.

Where did I went wrong? What mistake did I overlook? It took me so many years, so many defeats!

It cost me so much, and when I was sure of my victory... my triumph!

So... I'm running. Running without looking away, too scared to even stop to catch breath.

My legs are failing me, my heart is in pain.

Yet I will not stop, not until I finally escape all of it! This hell!

Death, blood, ruins, explosions, death, smoke, blood, death, he's coming, I can hear it! The Grim Reaper is near! The one who is nothing! The one who should not exist! THE ONE I CREATED!

He is near.

I can hear it... I can hear him! He's right behind me, and I can no longer escape. A barricade blocks my way, made of both robots, and humans. I can see it, how the human bodies are disfigured. I want to puke, but I have nothing inside me anymore.

He can hear.

Just sorrow... and regret.

He'll whisper in your ear.

The Red Devil... has come for me.

"IS IT THE DEATH YOU FEAR?"

He awoke, screaming. It was a bit too much, yes, a bit too much for him. This dream he had, so horrible... those visions were haunting him for a few days now. Should Repliroids even dream? He wondered.

Something wasn't right... he knew it. He knew deep down that something was wrong with him.

Yet, he didn't even try to talk about it with anybody else. Not even with X.

He knew he should, but he couldn't. Who was that old man? Why all those deaths? Why did he do it?

Those questions were painfully burning the mind of the red Repliroid.

But there was an another thing that bothered him... those words...

He is near.

He can hear.

He'll whisper in your ear.

Is it the death you fear?

Then there's one more sentence... he knows that it should be there, but he doesn't remember what it says.

Whenever he tries to remember, a chill runs through his body. It's fear... he's afraid to remember.

The one who fears no foe.

The one who fights alone.

The one who knows pain.

The Red Warrior... Zero.

He's afraid, afraid of one thing.

Himself.

"Checking body condition of the Neoroid."

Where am I?

"Body condition stable. Checking brain condition."

What is this place? I can't see clearly... like I'm in a dream.

Is this a dream? Is this real? Where is this place?

A laboratory? What... what am I doing here?

"Brain condition stable. He seems to be in perfect condition."

An old voice... there's someone old there. Who is it?

"So it's a success, then. Is he awake, Professor? Can I talk to him?"

Another voice. Younger, but more... hard, cruel. I'm scared.

"Well... according to the readings, he can hear what we are saying right now."

What's happening? Where am I? Who am I?

"Can you hear me, boy?"

Huh?

"You are the first of many... many, many more. You are a seed, from which a new race will sprout. A New Generation of Repliroids."

I try to move... to react... but I can't. The only thing I see next is darkness. An never ending black void...

Who am I?

What am I?

"Now listen boy, the next words I'll say are important. You must remember them."

Words? What words?

"Remember them."

Yes.

"He is near."

Who is near?

"He can hear."

Who can hear?

"He'll whisper in your ear."

Who'll whisper in my ear?

"Is it the death you fear?"

No. I fear...

"Nothing."

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES... end


	2. Chapter 1: Everything Changes

Rockman X

Episode I

The Cataclysm Element

Chapter 1: Everything Changes

When did it all began to change? Good question, however I don't know the answer.

The obvious reply would be, that all those changes started two months ago. When an organization called "Nebula Company" bought us... the Irregular Hunters.

But is that really the case? Maybe it all begun much, much earlier.

Honestly saying, I don't know.

All I know and care about now is... doing my duty, as always. Fighting against Irregulars, with X at my side.

Still, no matter how much I try, I can't deny that everything changed.

Ever since Nebula Company bought us out from the government, our plan of work took a huge turn in a completely different direction.

Now we do it for money, hunting the Irregulars I mean. If someone has a problem with them, they pay, and only then we hunt down the enemy. How many of us is sent, and how long we are defending them, depends on how much the client pays. It's disgusting. Many of us left of their own free will, escaped Nebula's reach, and created their own "illegal" group of Irregular Hunters. They call themselves "Red Alert", and they have become our only target, which we are supposed to "wipe out" for free. I guess Nebula doesn't like competition.

The only reason I haven't left yet, is because of X.

I don't know why, but something is not right with him.

Ever since Nebula took over, X changed. It's a change which only someone like me would notice. Someone who is his closest and most trusted friend.

He didn't leave.

He stayed, and with his usual seriousness followed orders from those corporate parasites. When many of us started to leave, I expected that he'll want for us to do the same... but even when Alia escaped, he stayed.

Even when they demoted Signas, and he just disappeared... X said to me:

"We must learn to live with the new order of things, Zero. Nebula's order. Nothing good will come of us leaving, and becoming enemies of the world."

That's why I'm staying. It's why I must endure this.

I must know what happened to him, solve this mystery, but...

It's not just that.

Every night... I'm plagued by nightmares. Nightmares that strike terror into the very essence of my soul.

Millions dead... dead at my hands. The people I killed... the towns I laid to waste. Until suddenly I wake up, shivering... and those words, they echo in my head, even long after I've woken up.

He is near.

He can hear.

He'll whisper in your ear.

Is it the death you fear?

And then... one last sentence, which I dare not remember. I don't know why, but... I feel that something within me will wake up... something evil.

I really don't know what to do. It might be me becoming paranoid but... I can feel it. I can feel that someone is watching me. My every move.

I don't know why, I don't understand who.

I know absolutely nothing.

My name is Red.

I'm the leader of "Red Alert".

What's Red Alert, you ask? Well, we are a, so called, "illegal" group of Irregular Hunters. All of our members left the official Irregular Hunters HQ. They left because, the Hunters were bought out. Bought out by an organization known as "Nebula Company", a firm which belongs to a rich human snob named Isaac Regal.

The hunters were in trouble, since the government could no longer support it financially. That's when Regal appeared, and bought them out. He changed their politics, and soon Irregular Hunters begun fighting only for those, who had enough money in their pockets.

Those of us at "Red Alert"... we know full well what kind of bullshit that is. So, many hunters left and together with me, an ex-Repliforce member, we formed Red Alert. A group that unlike, the "new and better" Irregular Hunters, will bring help to those of people who can't pay the rich bastards.

There's one thing none of us can understand. Something which bugs all of us. Especially that one lady, Alia.

Why did X and Zero, not leave with the others? Why did those two legendary heroes stay with those money grubbers? Did they sell themselves out? No... it can't be it. There must be something more, something we are all missing.

That's why...

"Red! Can you hear me?"

A familiar voice rings in my ear. Her voice.

"Yes, I can hear you, lady. What is it?"

"I've finally managed to repair the damaged map of the complex."

"Good job, lady. Now tell me... is there anything here which is actually worth a damn? Because so far, I've only found dirt."

"Well... there appears to be some sort of laboratory, west from your current position. Do you see a big red door anywhere?"

I start walking again, having previously stopped. Ever since I got here, the only thing I could see was dirty old hallways, and empty rooms. Is this really an old Nebula HQ, or was it some kind of stupid joke? Then, I notice it. A big red door at the end of the hallway.

"Found it, lady. What now? It appears to be locked by an electronic lock. It has a key card slot, and a keypad. Please, please don't tell me I have to look for a red key card."

"Well... see if it has a plug in port. If so try to plug in your AlertKomp into it, and I'll try to override the lock."

AlertKomps are just regular portable computers, but modified in such way, that they can be accessed only by us, members of Red Alert. Each of those technological little beauties, is set to pick up only one frequency.

"The Red Line." This line is used by us to communicate with each other.

"Ah, excellent idea, lady. I see one right here. I'm plugging it in"

"Roger. I'm going to try my best to override this lock."

Ah, sweet Alia. When she first told me about it, I frankly couldn't believe it. That someone like the famous pacifist, and "friend of justice", X, could say something like that.

When poor Alia wanted to leave Irregular Hunters with him, he told her: "If you want to run away like a scared dog, then please do so. I'm not running away from the new order of things."

I just... can't believe it. Something is not right. But what?

"Finished. I cracked the lock. You should be able to enter."

The doors open, slowly, as if they were afraid of letting out something that hides there.

And then... I saw him.

A young looking male Repliroid, sleeping. A Repliroid with a scar on his face.

Scar in shape of an X.

And behind him, on the wall, written in blood was:

"Seed."

Everything Changes... end.


	3. Chapter 2: The Sleeping Madness

Rockman X

Episode I

The Cataclysm Element

Chapter 2: The Sleeping Madness

It's surprising, to say the least. It's surprising, that among this dirt there would be such a thing. That it would wait behind a huge red door. Wait for its awakening.

It's kind of funny, now that I think of it. That at the time I... WE were so desperate, that we overlooked all the clues. Even tough it was so obviously "too good to be true", we still decided to awake it.

The boy who slept, and behind his bed, on a wall... a sign. A sign which just screamed "DON'T DO IT! DON'T WAKE HIM UP!"

And yet, we did.

I did.

"Seed?"

"What's wrong, Red? What's in there?"

I'm brought back to reality by her voice. I just realized, that I was staring at the writing on the wall for a long while. I look around, the laboratory is white, just as rest of the hallways and rooms in this forsaken place. It was dirty here too, of course.

However, there were three things, which made this laboratory unique.

One, there was a skeleton dressed in a lab coat stained with blood. The bony hands and legs were twisted in positions that seem very painful. Whatever it was that killed him, it probably didn't fuck around.

Two, there's a giant writing on the wall which says "SEED". It's written in blood, probably of that skeleton guy.

And lastly, there's a pod, with a young looking Repliroid in it.

"Well, lady. It seems I found something. A sleeping pod with a Repliroid in it, and a dead human."

"A... dead human?"

"Well... more like a skeleton of a dead human. But that's just unnecessary details."

"U-understood. Examine the sleeping pod, try to see if the Repliroid inside is still functional."

"Already on it."

I check the console, attached to the side of the pod. A typical keypad, with letters on the keys. Giving a closer look at the pod, it seems like it's the only object not affected by the dirt, which seems to crawl all around. There's a plug in port, which means I can let Alia do her magic. Or I could try my own magic.

"S-e-e-d."

I type the word on the console, and after a moment of absolute silence, I hear a beeping and a voice.

"AWAKENING PROCESS INITIATED!"

"Lady, it seems like I managed to wake our sleeping beauty up."

"Be careful, Red. We don't know what we might be up against"

I back away, readying my scythe. God knows what will happen now. After all, for what I know, this dead guy over there might be the work of the sleeping beauty here. It would be a shame tough, a real shame, if we went through all that trouble, only to kill the one thing apparently worth a damn in this place.

Hot steam gushes from the pod, obstructing my sight. I back away a little more.

I see a black silhouette get up, and slowly come out of it.

Can't say I'm not nervous. Everybody would be nervous in my place.

And so... the steam begins to disappear and I get a good look at the young bot.

He's looking at me... smiling?

"Yo. It's finally the time someone woke me up. Geez... it really took a while."

"Um..." I'm not sure what to reply. He's acting completely different from what I imagined.

"Well... never mind. My name is Axl. What's yours, pops?"

Every night, a nightmare. This time, it wasn't different. I woke up, screaming. I don't know why, why am I now plagued by those horrible dreams. Is it some kind of sign? Or maybe I'm just losing my grip on the sanity?

Don't know.

As I sit there, in the darkness of my room, I start to think about different things. Things to take my mind off the nightmares.

However, the only thing I can think about is X's strange behavior. It doesn't put me at ease, not even one bit.

This is frustrating.

I get up, and leave my room.

A little walk won't hurt.

The brightly lit hallways of the base, seem different, alien to me. Even tough the layout is the same, the look of everything changed when Nebula came. New dark purple paint on the wall, new locks in the doors of each room, and of course. Almost completely new staff.

Discounting those who didn't leave, the base is full of new faces. All assigned by Nebula, to fill in for the "traitors". There's something strange about them, something... different from the rest of us. As if they were built only to serve under Nebula.

Heh.

I wouldn't be surprised.

What worries me the most tough, is that X seems to get along with them surprisingly well. In fact, he's no longer my partner, instead he was paired with some girl named Slur. When they offered me a new partner, I said "No. I'll work alone if I have to".

Was it smart of me? I don't know. I just feel that I can't trust anyone else. Heck, it looks like I can't even trust X anymore.

Maybe I really should leave?

"Hello, Zero. Going for a walk?"

I stop, and turn around. She stands before me, with that bored look on her face. A female Repliroid, in a snow-white armor.

It's her, X's new partner... Slur.

"Hmph. What if I am? It's none of your business what I'm doing."

A smirk appears on her face.

"Well, aren't we grumpy? I can see you don't like me... jealous much?"

"Ridiculous. If X wants to have a new partner, then let him have it. It's none of my business."

I turned around without saying anymore, and not even waiting for her reply, I start to walk away. Then, she says it.

"X is ours now, and soon you will be too... Red Devil."

I stopped. No, that's not the right word. I froze. What she just said, it made me feel a chill so cold that I couldn't move. I was standing there for a moment that seemed like an eternity. I heard as she walked away, as the sound of her footsteps slowly disappeared. Only when I was absolutely sure that she wasn't near me anymore, did I move again.

There was no doubt in my mind anymore.

I had to leave, I had to find Red Alert.

We are waiting for the completion of the analysis.

Now that we have brought the boy to our base, we have to perform a standard procedure on him, and that is to check if he's not being tracked by Nebula.

We wouldn't want to be discovered. Especially not by them.

Our base is located deep underground. This place used to be a metro tunnel, until we came here, fixed the place up a bit, and made it our home.

The analysis is done, using our AlertKomps. Each of our AlertKomps have built in a function, that allows us to always check, if we are not being tracked. Did I mention that they are useful?

"Well, Alia? Is there anything planted on or within him?"

"Nope. He's clean of any tracking devices." She said, closing her AlertKomp.

"Cool. Can I get my guns back now?"

The young boy, looks at both of us with an expectant look. I look at the table, where his two guns are laying, and then smile at him.

"Sure, take 'em."

He takes them with a smile, without waiting even a moment.

So there he is, our bounty, taken from the abandoned laboratory.

Can't say I expected to find a happy-go-lucky kid, but I can't complain.

Now however, came the moment of questioning. We have to find out as much as we can from the boy.

I look at Alia, she looks at me. We both understand that it's time now.

"Now, kid. Listen."

"What is it, pops?"

The boy looks at me with a cocky smile. It's almost as if he knows that now we are going to question him.

Heh.

"We need to know everything you know."

"About what? I think I already told you, that I know nothing about myself."

"Yet you did expect to be woken up." I continued. "So you must know something about Nebula Company."

"Oh, you want to know about them? Why didn't you say so?"

I crossed my arms. It seems like we are getting on to something, good.

"We are all ears."

"Well so... as you probably know already, Nebula Company is in charge of the "New Generation" project."

"New Generation project? It's the first time I've ever heard of it."

Both me and Alia, have surprise painted on our faces.

But to be honest, so does the boy.

"What? You know nothing about it? Geez. I thought that they would have announced it by now."

"What is this New Generation project, Axl?" Alia asked.

"Well, it's kinda complicated. I don't know much myself, but, New Generation project's goal is to create a new race of Repliroids. Immune to the Sigma Virus, and therefore not capable of going Irregular."

We are staring at the boy, in long silence. Both of us aren't sure what to say. New Generation of Repliroids, which are immune to the Virus? That's something we did not expect to hear. Now, the obvious next question will be...

"In case you're wondering, then yes. I am one of the NewGen Repliroids. In fact, I'm the prototype."

The boy answers our question, before we even ask him. He's sharper than he seems.

"I see. Tell me, Axl. How do you know all of this, even tough you've been sleeping all this time?"

"Well, while I was sleeping, I was "fed" information. I know everything I need to know about the world."

"You also said, that you know nothing about yourself. Yet, you do know your name and that you are a part of this New Generation. How can it be so?"

"That's exactly it, pops. I know what I am, and what my name is, but I know nothing about WHO I actually am. When I saw you wake me up, I thought you would tell me."

"I see. I'm sorry, Axl, but I think you might have been abandoned by Nebula."

"Gee, you think?"

His answer tells me everything. I didn't notice it at first, but there's a huge aura of sadness around him.

I can't say. I pity the boy. Abandoned, alone. Sleeping for a long time, and then awakened only to learn he knows nothing about himself.

Damn, Nebula.

"Hey, pops."

"Yes?"

"Do you think... I could join up with you guys?"

Damn it all!

My plan for escape was simple. Get through the gates of the HQ under the cover of night.

It seems tough, they expected me to do that. No, more than that.

She said what she said, because she knew what I would do. That I would try to escape, and make contact with Red Alert.

It was a trap, everything must have been a lure to lead me right into it. X's strange behavior, the dreams.

Now I understand. Whatever Nebula is planning... I must escape! I must get away!

So I'm running, and they are chasing after me through the streets of the city. They have ride chasers, I don't.

So I have to carefully plan my every step. Even the smallest mistake, might lead to my capture.

I can hear the sirens, they are looking for me. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It's madness.

I'm running through the dirty back alleys, jumping on balconies, hiding in the trash. Everything to escape those who are trying to find me.

I gotta run. Echo of the sirens is spreading in my head. Using every opening, I have to get away from the city.

Then there's... the pain. My head hurts... a familiar pain. I've felt it before. Yes, few times before.

The image of an old scientist flashes in my head. It hurts, it hurts. Please somebody stop the pain.

And then... I feel nothing. I hear nothing. Just black, endless void. Am I dead? Am I dying? Or is it something else? I'm flying through this hollow place, wondering, what is wrong with me. What is happening... and then, I hear them. Those words. The incomplete poem. This time... it's different.

I am near.

I can hear.

I'll whisper in your ear.

Is it the death you fear?

No... I fear no death. I only fear...

"THE RED DEVIL IS HERE!"

I hear my own voice, complete the poem. But after that... nothing. Only never ending black.

Then...

I woke up, outside the streets of the city. In a cave.

I don't remember what happened, or how I got here.

On my hands there's blood... Repliroid blood.

What did I do? What happened?

I don't know. I don't want to know.

I must find help... I must find Red Alert and...

KILL THEM ALL!

... with them find out what Nebula is up to.

If anybody can help me, it's...

THE FEAST MADE FROM THEIR CORPSES!

... them.

I must...

SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!

... find them, before it's too late.

The Sleeping Madness... end


End file.
